In Ghaziabad, 25,000 to get Covid-19 vaccines under phase 1

GHAZIABAD: At least 25,000 people in Ghaziabad will get Covid-19 vaccine in the first phase of the immunisation programme in the state, district officials said.

GHAZIABAD: At least 25,000 people in Ghaziabad will get Covid-19 vaccine in the first phase of the immunisation programme in the state, district officials said. Also, out of these 25,000 beneficiaries, about 20,500 (82%) will be frontline health workers, the officials said.

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Giving the information, Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey, who took stock of the preparations for the Covid-19 vaccination in the district, said that Ghaziabad has one district-level vaccine depot and 29 block-level cold chain points.

A vaccine depot is a place where vaccines are stored in freezers. The state government has collaborated with UNICEF for construction of these vaccine depots and evaluation of the existing cold storage chain points, the officials said.

The DM said that the target Covid-19 population in the district has been calculated in proportion to the state’s Covid-infected population. “It is roughly equal to 20% of the district’s population and seven times the number of beneficiaries for routine immunization. The renovation work of all the cold chain points and vaccine depot have been completed. The vaccines sent from the state headquarters will directly be stored in the refrigerators, with 225-litre capacity, kept at MMG hospital,” he said.

Pandey further said that all the cold chain points in the district have been provided ice-lined refrigerators (ILRs). “The vaccines will be sent from the depot to the cold chain points in proper vaccine boxes. From there, the vaccines will be delivered to different immunization points for the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination. At these cold chain points, the temperature is maintained between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius,” he said.

The officials said that as many as 82 spots have been identified for the first phase of immunisation in the district. “The targeted number of health workers, who will be immunised in this phase, is 20,456. We expect to provide Covid-19 vaccination to at least 25,000 people in the first week of its commencement. Out of 29 ILRs, we have so far received four ILRs and the rest will also be delivered to MMG hospital very soon,” Pandey said.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the state health department said that the government is aiming to create 2.03 lakh litre capacity of storage for Covid-19 vaccination, of which 80,733 litre of space has been created so far. “The first phase of Covid-19 vaccination is expected to immunise over four crore people in the state with the focus on frontline corona warriors, including health workers,” he said, preferring anonymity.

In a draft standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Union health ministry to all states and Union territories, as many as 100 people should be vaccinated per day at a site and if sufficient resources are available, then up to 200 people can be vaccinated. “If in any case, more than 200 people are being vaccinated within a session, then a whole team of five people will have to be deployed separately (one vaccine officer and four vaccination officers),” it said.